The invention relates to mounting apparatus including wire retainers for use with crossfire or crossover ignition tubes commonly found in combustion systems for gas turbines and the like. The exemplary retainer embodiment disclosed is of a shape to cooperate with a mounting base in the vicinity of a crossfire tube end and when in place results in locking the mounting base and crossfire tube to the retainer by way of compressive forces.
The use of adjacent combustors in a gas turbine with interconnecting crossfire tubes is generally well known as indicated in a commonly assigned White, U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,372 issued Feb. 10, 1981. As indicated therein, a typical cross ignition assembly comprises tubular members extending between aligned openings in adjacent combustors that are held in place by means which position the opposite ends of the tubular members or crossfire tubes in fluid communication with the adjacent combustion chambers. The purpose of the crossfire tubes is that of providing for the ignition of fuel in one combustor chamber from ignited fuel in an adjacent combustor without providing igniter means in each combustor. Such crossfire tubes also serve the purpose of equalizing to some extent the pressures between combustion chambers. As indicated in the White patent, it is important that such crossfire tubes be mounted so that the tube ends are positioned accurately as well as being mounted in a manner to reduce vibration which has been found to cause wear in the cross ignition assembly. The objects of the White invention are accomplished in part through the use of a leaf spring for retaining the outer end of each crossfire tubular member in its operative position by effecting a cantilever support for each tube end.
Briefly summarized, we have discovered that the exemplary embodiment of our wire retainer which can be easily formed with resilient wire or rod of standard size and composition will provide firm support against axial movement of the crossfire tube through the use of compressive side loading provided by the wire retainer. Additionally, the retainer is firmly attached to the mounting base by an additional compressive force caused by the manner in which the retainer is formed and the manner in which it is engaged by the mounting base on both sides of the crossfire tube. Additionally, the illustrative embodiment of our new wire retainer only requires a base in the vicinity of the crossfire tube and does not require a base extended to the full length of the retainer.